Memo to NZ Football

Memo to NZ Football

" if you build it they will come"

couldnt agree more - but to save repeating myself ... http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/blogs/hand-of-god/2910934/Oceania-view-disappointing

Could not agree with that blog more.

It's fair to say more Kiwi's will show up to games against Asian nations than they would for the island nations.
Another point is that much the same way as when the English rugby and/or Cricket teams tour, I'm sure there would be a healthy interest from the ex-pat communities of those nations with more than a few residents living in New Zealand/ we're already a popular tourism destination for many Asian nations already. Football games here against those nations would be very marketable and perhaps even a bigger tourism draw card than Rugby dare I say it.

Sure the All Blacks are the bigger team in terms of global marketing but it's only Japan that has a rugby team to send and the nzru isn't really that interested in that I'm sure.

I think we should stay in Oceania. It does give us a fair amount of opportunities, if you look at things like the World Club Championship. That prize at least gives the NZFC some meaning.

What I would do is, instead of playing off against the 5th ranked Asian Nation I think we should go into the final Asian group phase. We would still play those easy island teams first and then if we won Oceania we would then take on the Asian teams. This would be good for us. It would raise the profile of football and give us much more games. It seems like the best of both worlds to me. Also, it makes qualifying far more of an adventure. 1982 will most likely be far better then 2010 if we get there because it was much harder to achieve.

Opportunities to sneak into a world cup sure. But then watch how we go when we're there.If we get inito Asia it might take 12 years, or another 28 to get there. But when we do we know we deserveit and will be able to compete.

Oceanea = a little succes now. Asia = a lot more success late. Where success is international competitiveness measured in Ffa rankngs. You do the maths.

Oceania needs to be culled, and create an Australasian confed..

Meh,i dont see people turning out in droves against asian countries theyve probably never heard of. The only reason this has an interest is the "one game away from a world cup" buzz,not because its against a more quality opposition.

So the old Oceania with a new name ?

who cares about asia ocieania talk. thats future talk. Congrats to the football union for bringing the ticket prices down. its sold out with under a month to go. lets hope that they add temp seats.

OFC needs to merge with AFC in order to grow, lets face it. The big problem that I see is the lesser island nations (Samoa, Tonga, American Samoa etc.) would more than likely struggle to make that kind of financial commitment.

I can't see FIFA letting the Oceania qualifier getting such a short run to the WC finals next time. There is quite a bit of discussion about Oceania and the way it qualifies going on in Europe.

That would be the better option in my opinion. Also it has nothing to do with AFC fortunately, WCQ matches are arranged by FIFA (is my understanding).

That's what I suggested above. Putting us into the Asian pool games makes most sense as we can still get the advantages of being the best in Oceania and still have good competition in Asia.

So oceania champs go through to an earlier asian qualifying round. Sounds like a winner. That way the island nations wont struggle like they would with a merger,and we'd pretty much be a part of asia qualifying wise (unless stu jacobs takes over the reigns,then tahiti would be)

For example if NZ went into Asia pool 1 we would have 5 home and 5 away games. Against australia, japan, bahrain, quatar, uzbekistan. Top 3 make the WC finals....sounds fair to me. if Aw's got through then they would fully deserve their spot.

Well if we went into the AFC, Oceania as a Federation will fold, no doubt about it. And we'd also lose out on what is likely for us (as NZ) direct entry to the other FIFA tournaments (age groups and womens), which we currently have. The World Cup is currently the only one where we don't have direct entry - don't see that changing.

Surbia, think about the long term benefits of joining AFC, constant top opposition can only be a good thing. Maybe the top 2 OFC sides should enter into the final group stage of AFC qualifying so as to help the OFC region rather than just NZ. Also it would make the groups even numbers still. Would be nice if this sort of thing could happen for all AFC tournaments.

Yes - it's better for the All Whites, but there's little benefit for the Age Group reps and the Womens, who already have direct OFC entry (and funding) into FIFA tournaments. Really can't see the AFC giving a stuff about helping out the Island teams at all

I seriously doubt that AFC would allow 2 OFC teams into their qualifying groups, since that's potential for taking away one of their WC spots.

Oh, you mean like how we easily qualified for the U20 World Cup this year?

1. EG already made my first point

2. It's not up to AFC. It's up to FIFA. If it was up to AFC we either wouldn't get the luxury of a home leg or would have to go through the AFC 1st round of qualifying even after winning OFC.

3. New Caledonia have a lot of potential for such a small nation in my opinion, and could one day pose a threat.
timmymadden2009-10-17 18:43:26

Interesting debate.

Two things need to happen for a country to move to another Confederation. They need an invitation, and their current Confederation needs to agree to them leaving. Both happened re Australia (obviously) and neither would happen for New Zealand. So it won't happen.

Much of Asia hates Australia being in their Confederation - imagine how West Asia (the Middle East) feels about it, being on the verge of not having a representative at the World Cup for the first time since 1974? They did not want Australia to join AFC (with the exception of Bin Hammam), and they will like Australia being in the AFC even less right now. AFC would not want another "non-Asian" nation to join, especially if we beat AFC's No 5 team! AFC has 4.5 spots in the World Cup - imagine how they will feel if what they consider to be "Asian nations" take only 3 of those spots. Invite New Zealand to join - never!

OFC will not agree to New Zealand leaving as they will not really be left with a Confederation.

If New Zealand did somehow manage to join AFC we could not afford to take part in AFC World Cup qualifying competitions in under age/women due to the cost of travel - ask Australia. And we could not compete in the AFC Champions League as we do not have a professional domestic competition.

If OFC became part of AFC - imagine if Tahiti drew Jordan in a game? French Polynesia covers a greater area than Europe! Would FIFA have a Confederation that covered half the globe?

Finally - in 2006/07 we tried to join the AFC group stage of World Cup qulaification. We put a proposal to AFC. After some discussions it was rejected. AFC did not want to lose another spot for an AFC team in their group stage. And they - especially West Asia - hate traveling to Australia/New Zealand. Also I think they fancied their chances more in a two-off situation after their team had had great games for preparation, and we hd been playing the Islands.

Let's shove that right back on them! Seatts2009-10-17 21:15:36

Seatts.

Can we blog that as a feature from you ?  It covers a stack of points some have been trying to make here and is worthy of a much wider audience.

Sure - in the form the now appears. I have edited it!

Sure - in the form that now appears. I have edited it!

if we do beat beat Bahrain, then maybe we could argue that direct entry to the final asian group stages is justified (after winning Oceania), but Australia might feel agrieved that we get an easy ride.

Seatts, didn't read your post before posting mine.

Having read Seatts blog it looks like we are stuck in Oceania. There is no way Asia would invite us to join. Why would they? its just a loss for them.

Another option is to maybe look to strengthen the Oceania confederation. Look to South America and pick on some of the teams there that have to muscle their way into World Cup. Invite Argentina and Chile to join Oceania. It will help us strengthen the competition over here, and im sure those nations will see our little confederation as a shoe in way to get to the world cup.

Argentina almost didn't make it this time round...goldienz2009-10-19 14:26:07

Sorry mate, but this is never, ever, EVER, going to happen.

I'm not sure. That's why I wanted to say something.

It seemed too crazy to be serious. Next thing you know, we'd be trying to get Sweden and Scotland to come down too!